Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing an L-amino acid of the glutamate family, such as L-glutamic acid, using a coryneform bacterium. L-amino acids are industrially useful as raw materials in the production of seasonings, and so forth.
Brief Description of the Related Art
L-amino acids are industrially produced by, for example, fermentation using microorganisms such as coryneform bacteria that are able to produce L-amino acids (Akashi, K. et al., Amino Acid Fermentation. Japan Scientific Societies Press, p. 195 to 215, 1986). As such microorganisms, for example, strains isolated from nature, and mutant strains thereof, have been used. Also, the ability of these microorganisms to produce L-amino acids can be improved by using recombinant DNA techniques. Such techniques include, for example, enhancing phosphoketolase activity (WO2006/016705) or using a mutant yggB gene (WO2006/070944).
The kgtP gene of Escherichia coli encodes an α-ketoglutaric acid (α-KG) uptake carrier (Seol W, Shatkin A J. Escherichia coli kgtP encodes an alpha-ketoglutarate transporter. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1991 May 1; 88(9):3802-6). α-KG is known to be an intermediate in the biosynthesis of L-glutamic acid. However, the relationship between an α-KG uptake carrier and production of L-amino acids of glutamate family has not been previously reported.